Just realized last Sunday marked a full year since I’ve stepped inside of a theatre. It hurts.
This comic comes courtesy of my supporters on Patreon. Hang in there, theatre friends.
The Point
Another autobiographical comic, courtesy of my excellent supporters on Patreon. These comics are very much self-therapy for me. None of my existential crises seem quite as dire once I’ve put them into comic form.
Wow, I can’t believe I drew that back in 2018, before society and the world LITERALLY collapsed around us. I was so innocent and naïve.
Pep Talk
I keep telling my friends “[this month] I’m going to recharge and reset so I can avoid burnout and come back stronger than ever” and then I keep not doing it. But I’m really going to try this month.
Nope, still not buying it.
This comic comes to you courtesy of my most wonderful supporters on Patreon.
Very Tiny Classic: The Iliad
Time for the second installment of my Very Tiny Classics series! Today we'll be taking a look not at Shakespeare, but at one of his classical influences: Homer's Iliad.
It's all the fun of the Iliad, but it also doesn't last as long as a yellow traffic light and fits in your pocket! Let's take a look.
If you want to print out and fold your very own Tiny Classics edition of the Iliad, download this pdf, print it out at full scale, and then follow these incomprehensible instructions to fold it into an adorable little mini-comic. To see more of my mini-comics, go here.
To learn more about the extremely fun art of mini-comics, check out these resources. Mini-comics are super-fun to make and distribute.
Introducing... the Weekly Tickle Brain newsletter!
Apparently if you're running a blog/webcomic it's not enough to have the blog and the Twitter and the Facebook and the Tumblr (which I still haven't figured out how to use properly). You also have to have an e-mail newsletter, because apparently some people still use e-mail as their primary means of interacting with the internet.
And so today I am launching The Weekly Tickle Brain newsletter! If all goes to plan, The Weekly Tickle Brain will be delivered in your e-mail inbox every Monday, to start your week with a pleasant jolt of Shakespearean silliness. It will contain a digest of the past week's comics, as well as anything exciting that I might have posted on social media that didn't make it to the blog.
It will also, and this is the part that excites me, contain a recommendation section where I plan to ramble on about any Shakespeare-related books or films that have popped up on my radar, plus occasional behind-the-scenes peeks at the working life of a Shakespearean webcomic artist. This is exclusive content, or, as they say in more candid circles, shamelessly-not-available-on-the-blog-so-as-to-encourage-people-to-sign-up-for-the-newsletter content.
Anyways, enough idle chatter! I know you stand like greyhounds in the slips, straining upon the start. The game's afoot! Follow your spirit and upon this charge cry "I'm going to sign up for the Weekly Tickle Brain!"
...that doesn't have quite the same ring, does it?
If you can think of any other kind of content that would make an e-mail newsletter particularly appealing to you, please feel free to leave a comment below, or send me a message through my Contact Me form.
Great Old Octopus
Pray indulge a short, non-Shakespearean digression as we approach Halloween. I have a penchant for winter hats shaped like animals and/or monsters, and I recently acquired the following masterpiece from a shop in Stratford, ON.
It is, of course, a ski mask knitted to look like H.P. Lovecraft's iconic Elder God Cthulhu. Because why not? The tentacles do keep your face warm.
I've tried it out in the office a couple times, but the problem is that (with the exception of my awesome co-worker, who irresponsibly encouraged me to acquire the hat in the first place) nobody knows who Cthulhu is. Which means I've had the following conversation several times:
I'm an octopus.
We return to your regularly scheduled Shakespearean content on Wednesday.
Return to Stratford
I realize I've been harping on about the Stratford Festival a lot recently. I'd apologize, but I'm not actually that sorry about it, as it is such a major part of my theatre-going life. This time I managed to "convince" my conveniently pliable co-worker and her sister to accompany me to see A Midsummer Night's Dream and Crazy for You one last time before the end of the season. I recount the saga here:
I'm just going to go ahead and own my half-crazed theatre junkie tag. It's me. I don't deny it.
That's my co-worker. She was actually much more enthusiastic about the prospect of going to Stratford than I give her credit for here. Although my half of the conversation is pretty spot-on....
True story: When I drove up to Stratford by myself for the first time, the border guard was extremely dubious about me going to the theatre all by myself. I invited my co-worker and her sister along mostly to stop the border guards from further prying into my apparent lack-of-life. It worked.
The set changeover tour was fascinating, by the way. It also ended early enough for me to squeeze in dinner before the evening show. So you can have your cake and eat it too.
After they got their coffee, my co-worker and her sister agreed that it was a lot of fun. I'm always right about things like this.
This. This is the definition of tragedy.
Anyways, thanks again to all the fantastic actors who took the time to chat with me! As always, it is such a pleasure to meet the people behind the performances that I have enjoyed so much over the years. (Not pictured: my awesome co-worker and her sister, in case they wish to remain semi-anonymous and not associate themselves with my incurable theatre obsession.)
Also, that Shakespeare statue has really creepy eyes. It's great.
One Year Old
First of all, apologies for this comic being a bit late. I had a busy and eventful weekend... but more on that later. First of all, I want to thank you! Yes, YOU. Because you're wonderful.
As Sondheim said, "A vision's just a vision if it's only in your head. If no one gets to see it, it's as good as dead." So thank you for seeing my comic, and for enjoying it, and for sharing it. I wouldn't be doing this without your readership and your support. I'm looking forward to another year of Shakespearean shenanigans to share with you!
Anyways, the reason this comic is late is that I went up to the Stratford Festival again this weekend to see Christina, the Girl King (the one show I had missed on my last trip). I also ended up seeing Mother Courage and King John again. This was one of the most uniformly excellent Stratford seasons I can remember, and was made even more special by so many of the actors who took the time to chat with my when I stalked them at the stage door. It turns out actors are warm, lovely, and generous human beings. Who knew?
Anyways, here's a snapshot of my Stratford trips. I'm the unkempt-looking one with glasses.
So, along with all of you lovely readers, I want to thank the Stratford Festival for inspiring a love of theatre in me at an early age that had compelled me to devote (almost) every free waking hour I have to drawing theatre-related stick figure comics. You've totally ruined my social life, Stratford. I hope you're happy.